Russian ATM skimmer fears for his life when asked to give police details of his criminal gang

Russian Anton Lilin has been arrested in Bangkok for ATM fraud. Lilin, aged 30, has been charged with possession and using a device for the purpose of stealing people’s confidential data via electronic media or cards and with using forged media cards as well as intent to seal, he was also charged with illegal entry.

While being prosecuted by the police, Lilin became very anxious when he confessed that he was working as part of a Russia based racked and went on to refuse to give further details telling the police he feared he would be killed by other members of the gang if he revealed any details of the organization, whoever he did disclose that he entered the country with three other compatriots and that he acted as the groups technician tasked with installing the ATM skimming devices that he said could be installed in as little as sixteen seconds.

The arrest came about after a tip off from customers that resulted in a police stakeout. Pol Major Pheerarat Yoma, a Hua Mak station officer, said Lilin and the three other Russians entered Thailand four months ago and resided in Chon Buri. The gang have been targeting ATMs know for large withdrawals of large sums of money. The skimmer was found to have previously been used on a Siam Commercial Bank ATM, he said.

Lilin told police many skimmer sets had been installed on ATMs of various banks, but no details were available on which banks they were. Interrogation of Lilin was ongoing, he said. Bank clients’ information including PIN numbers for their accounts would be saved and sent abroad, so that they could be extracted, processed, and eventually used to withdraw money from accounts, for which PIN numbers were stolen, Pheerarat said.